Mich. preps to cut staff at unemployment offices

LANSING (AP) — The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency is preparing to lay off 255 permanent full-time employees, at a time when critics say the agency already is struggling to handle its workload.

The scheduled Oct. 1 layoffs come on the heels of Aug. 31 layoffs of more 177 part-time temporary workers who were brought in to relieve congestion at the height of the recession. The staffing cuts leave about 800 employees, including about 100 answering phones at the agency’s Lansing Call Center, newspapers reported Tuesday.

State officials say technology and online services will streamline operations, and the 432 layoffs will save $35 million annually. Agency officials say federal funding cuts prompted the staff reductions as the state’s jobless rate has declined: The number of Michigan jobless workers peaked at 537,000 in June 2009 and as of Aug. 31, 167,348 workers were receiving jobless benefits.

“When you look at attempted calls over a period of months, you can see the number of calls the agency gets is staggering,”said Steve Arwood, the agency’s director. “The phone system will not handle that amount of traffic. There’s no conceivable way within the budget(ed) staffing plan to alleviate that issue.”

Arwood said that new phone and computer systems expected to be completed by next September should improve service levels.

Kenneth Hreha was among those laid off last month after working as an unemployment insurance examiner for more than two years. He said that his own claim was delayed after numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach somebody on the phone.

Hreha said the staff was already overworked before the layoffs.

“When I call Consumers Power, I don’t have to call 15 times,” Hreha said.“How the agency is going to answer their workload with 400 less workers, that’s beyond me.”